Barbara Huntington
Barbara Huntington was the beautiful, deadly young wife of Benedict Huntington, manager, Lord, and chief of all business pertaining to the East India Trading Company in Hong Kong and its surrounding seas. Due to her great cunning, ability to easily manipulate others, and Benedict's great affection for her, she had an inordinate amount of power within the Pacific branch of the EITC for a woman. During the time of the Shadow Lord's threat, Barbara and her husband plotted to use the situation to rid the Seven Seas of piracy forever and advance their status. Biography Early Life At some point in her youth, Barbara wed the older Benedict Huntington, whom she greatly adored. With her great flirtatious charm and prowess in manipulation, she was able to help her husband climb the ranks of the East India Trading Company until he eventually became chief of its branch in Hong Kong. Rising in the East One breezy morning in her Hong Kong estate, Barbara walked into her husband's office and spotted him trying to hide a letter from her, but quickly snatched it up before he could stop her. After reading it for herself, Barbara came to the same conclusion as her husband that the warning was nothing more than "ghost stories". As Benedict began to dismiss the matter entirely, Barbara suggested that they can use the situation to their advantage, stipulating that they could utilize the information to expand Benedict's position to encompass the entire Pacific Ocean, or else make a deal with the Shadow Lord himself to rid the sea of pirates forever. As they discuss their mutual hatred of Mistress Ching, Benedict assured Barbara that before long, Ching and every other pirate would be twitching at the end of the rope somewhere in the Seven Seas. Some time later, Benedict and Barbara were contacted by Liang Dao, who had just been overthrown as Pirate Lord by his brother, Sao Feng. They set up a secret meeting so as to establish a deal in which Dao would give them the location of Sao Feng and Mistress Ching's meeting and Benedict would help Dao reclaim his throne. As they attempted to stealthily make their way through the streets of Hong Kong to Dao, Barbara expressed concern that they might encounter a pirate along the way. Benedict began bragging to her that he had trained all of his agents to detect any pirate they may encounter on the streets, and ordered them to run through all pirates they may find on their patrol. Immediately after, he and Barbara came face to face with a troop of seven individuals dressed like East India Trading Company agents, whom unbeknownst to them were really Jack Sparrow, Billy Turner, Jean Magliore, Diego de Leon, Carolina, Lian, and Park. Benedict was fooled by Jack into thinking that the reason his face was covered up was because he had leprosy, and allowed him and the rest of his "troop" go on their way. When Barbara noticed that some of the agents seemed oddly feminine and asked Benedict whether he'd begun allowing women to join the EITC, Benedict brushed off Barbara's concerns and urged her to hurry along so as to not to keep their "mystery informant" waiting. After her husband's attack on Mistress Ching's opium den failed, Barbara pretended to befriend Marcella Magliore, whom Jack had forced to stay behind with Alex and Catastrophe Shane. Tricking Marcella into thinking that she was desperate and had nowhere else to go, Barbara convinced the young pirate to help her stowaway aboard the Black Pearl during its voyage to India. The Turning Tide During the voyage to India, Barbara contacted Benedict via her enchanted hand mirror. During their conversation her husband realized she wasn't home in their estate, and after Barbara started talking about his journey to India she got Benedict to guess that she had stowed away aboard the Black Pearl. Sometime after the Black Pearl had finally reached its destination, Barbara managed to sneak off the ship and contact her husband once again, this time to inform him about all the obstacles blocking the entrance to Sri Sumbhajee's palace. Making her way through the night with only a lantern as her guide, Barbara sought shelter in a stone temple to get away from all the "horrid mosquitoes", where unbeknownst to her, Carolina and Diego were hiding and heard every word she said. Barbara was eventually found in Sri Sumbhajee's temple by Marcella, who informed her that the East India Trading Company had arrived at the palace and a battle has broken out between them and Sri Sumbhajee's men. Before leaving to join Benedict, Barbara gave her hand mirror to Marcella, telling the girl it was a gift to remember her by. As her husband dueled with Carolina on the dock, Barbara guarded his back to prevent Diego de Leon from rushing to her aid. Before Benedict could kill Carolina, however, a terrified Barbara spotted the stampede of wild elephants Jack Sparrow had loosed into the harbor, and screaming for him to get her out of here, began yanking her husband towards one of the rowboats at the end of the dock. Though her husband was loath to leave the battle, Barbara insisted that they have to go, shoving the oars into his hands and making him row them back to the Peacock. As an enraged Huntington began throwing a tantrum as he watched the defeat of his men from his ship, Barbara calmly made her way to the wheel and signaled to the other sailors to resume their positions so the Peacock could retreat from the harbor with its fellow Company vessels. After the dust had settled and the couple were alone in Benedict's quarters, Barbara was furiously ranted at by her husband for ruining his attempt to capture Jack and Sri Sumbhajee. Barbara insisted that all hope was not lost, however, and having Benedict hand over his hand mirror, activated its power, causing Marcella Magliore to appear within the glass. As Marcella began ranting about "the stupid Spanish princess" (meaning Carolina), Barbara reminded her husband that they had heard about a missing Spanish princess from a Portuguese trader. When Benedict revealed his own secret to Barbara, that he'd just recently been contacted by the Shadow Lord, Barbara pointed out to her husband that the watermark on the parchment was in the shape of Lord Villanueva's crest, and that there are "secrets within secrets" there they could use to their advantage. Turning back to the mirror, Barbara and Benedict overheard Jack asking Barbossa how long before they reached Madagascar, and the jubilant couple prepared to meet them there. Wild Waters Barbara and her husband continued to spy on the Black Pearl through the hand mirror during the trip to Africa, but both found the task highly exasperating due to Marcella's many irritating habits. Through their eavesdroppings Barbara and Benedict managed to discover that Jack was traveling to Madagascar to find the Pirate Lord of the Atlantic Ocean, and that the Black Pearl was in actuality the fastest ship in the entire ocean. When her husband began complaining that the EITC tried to order him to return to his post in Hong Kong, Barbara assured him he was making the right choice in ignoring their letter, as the focus must remain on capturing Jack Sparrow. During the voyage to Madagascar, Benedict received another letter from the Shadow Lord, from which he and Barbara learned that Sparrow intended to break into King Samuel's fortress. After Benedict ordered first mate Roland McTavish to make sail for the fort, Barbara approached her husband and asked what he planned to tell Samuel when they arrived. Upon learning of Benedict's intent to fool Samuel into thinking he had come to discuss trade routes to the Indian Ocean, a surprised Barbara questioned his decision to not tell Samuel about the impending attack. When Benedict replied that he was not going to miss the opportunity to watch pirates tear each other apart Barbara reminded him that the Shadow Lord had requested that he keep the two Pirate Lords apart. Benedict insisted that Sparrow would be long dead before he reached King Samuel, as he intended to wait for him at the fortress and kill the pirate himself, and an enthusiastic Barbara agreed his plan would be a lot more fun. When Barbara and Benedict finally arrived at the fortress, they were greeted warmly by the Pirate Lord as Benedict had expected, but the couple were forced to endure Samuel's constant tales of his "manliness and strength" as well as a menagerie of animals that regularly wandered through the fort. When Samuel began bragging about how all pirates foolish enough to attack his fort wound up dying, Barbara was silently cued by Benedict to begin distracting Samuel with her flirting prowess. At one point, Samuel became so riveted by Barbara's charms that Benedict was able to slink away in search of the landward entrance to Samuel's fort. After her husband was thwarted from executing Sparrow by a loose gorilla, Barbara and Benedict departed from King Samuel's fort on the Peacock. During their escape, Barbara contacted a stunned Marcella via the hand mirror she had left in her possession, and learned that she would be journeying to France aboard the Ranger. Barbara began furiously insisting that Marcella could not leave Sparrow and the Pearl, to which Marcella informed her that they were all going to France together. When Barbara turned to tell her husband to write that down, Marcella realized that Barbara was not alone. When Barbara turned back to Marcella, she jostled the mirror on her end, causing the room behind her to spin and Marcella to catch a glimpse of the man standing beside her. Recognizing him as Benedict Huntington, a shocked Marcella cried out to Barbara that Diego had warned her about him and that he was "totally evil". When Benedict leaned over and told Marcella that he did whatever the Company required him to, a heartbroken Marcella realized that Barbara and he had been working together the whole time, and everything Barbara had told her had been a lie. Barbara brushed off Marcella's hurt feelings and proposed that if Marcella kept telling them where Jack was and what he was planning, they could save her from the pirate life she hated so much, and if she helped them catch him, they could guarantee her safety and probably a big reward as well. When Marcella inquired about Jean's safety and Benedict informed her that there would be no leniency for the other pirates, Barbara confirmed to her that every man aboard the crew was wanted, and that the deal would be for her alone. Barbara's efforts to suade Marcella failed however, as the girl ultimately responded to hers and Benedict's offer by snapping the mirror shut and throwing it overboard. France Furious because of the loss of the second mirror, Barbara and Benedict had a verbal fight about each other's successes and failures, when they were suddenly contacted through Barbara's mirror by the Shadow Lord himself. Though he wasn't pleased with their failures, the Shadow Lord promised that they'll have a chance to kill Jack Sparrow in Marseilles. Personality and traits Barbara was known for wearing long silk gowns, sporting a peacock feather in her perfectly coiffed hair, and adorning herself with heavy jewels. She was described by others as dazzling, like a startling bird flashing out amid the jungle foliage. She had unnaturally bright red hair and nails painted the exact same color. Her green eyes were so sharp they could easily spot even the subtlest of movements, and according to her husband, were just as deep and deadly as the Indian Ocean. Her smile was said to be sly and catlike. Barbara was strongly adored by her husband, who gave her an uncommon amount of input into his affairs at the East India Trading Company, which she staunchly believed owned the world. Her spouse often relied upon her to assist him in his manipulation of fellow bureaucrats as a means of advancing career-wise. Where her husband was typically quiet and calculating, Barbara was strikingly loud and vivacious. This contrast in personality often served to work in the couple's favor, as many a diplomat would find themselves distracted by Barbara's striking charms, only to discover later that Benedict had taken advantage of the situation to weasel some vital secret out of them without their even noticing it. This cunning ferocity was said to have been what drew Barbara and her husband together despite their outward differences. Barbara had an intense hatred of pirates, especially Mistress Ching, who had once co-opted a shipment of tea and spices coming specifically to Barbara from Shanghai. She was known as being just as deadly as her husband, if not more so, having a reputation for liking to strangle things with her bare hands. It was rumored that Barbara once strangled a starving street urchin she caught sneaking into her mansion to steal a handful of rice, as no one had ever heard from the boy again. Equipment and skills Barbara possessed one of two enchanted silver hand mirrors that allowed the users to see and/or communicate with each other through the enchanted glass, the other of which belonged to her husband. Her mirror was activated by rubbing the glass three times in a counter clockwise direction. She also often carried a peacock feather fan with her, which she would skillfully use when flirting with men. Appearances *''Legends of the Brethren Court: Rising in the East'' *''Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide'' *''Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters'' *''Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow'' Category:Females Category:East India Trading Company employees Category:East India Trading Company officials Category:Spies